As the news broke that umbrella firm Giant has suffered a serious attack on its data and systems, the industry has also reported a rise in the number of companies setting themselves up under the guise of compliant providers.
Earlier this month, Professional Passport took steps to develop an API tool to enable agency members to check company credentials against its approved providers list. The process for checking for non-members has also been enhanced and provides a manual company number check to verify the accredited status.
Crawford Temple, CEO of Professional Passport, which assesses payment intermediaries for compliance said: “We have seen a proliferation of companies masquerading as Professional Passport accredited payment intermediaries and it is causing confusion and harm to the market. We have therefore taken steps to develop an automated tool that will provide the highest level of transparency for our agency members so that they can quickly identify and check on those providers approved by us.
“Non-compliance is now more sophisticated than ever and with many companies operating with very similar names to accredited ones, it can be difficult to spot the difference,” he added. “The new Off-Payroll legislation has served to fuel malpractice in our sector and opened the floodgates to non-compliant providers. Our new tool is one vital part of the jigsaw to help recruiters to spot the rotten eggs.”
